Manic Miner

aka: Manic Miner starring Miner Willy, Manic Miner: ZX Spectrum HD
Moby ID: 6440

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Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 87% (based on 6 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 6 ratings with 1 reviews)

Pure simplicity

The Good
If you owned a ZX Spectrum back in the day, chances were you heard of Manic Miner created by Matthew Smith. There were actually two versions of the game for the Speccy. The first was from Bug-Byte, who offered Smith Sinclair's machine in an exchange contract for three games. One of these was Manic Miner, which took Smith eight weeks to complete. Later, he re-released the game through his new company called Software Projects, and ports were made to popular eight-bit computers.

I was impressed with this game from the get-go. A nice rendition of “The Blue Danube” is played while the game highlights which keys are pressed. This is a great way to teach people how to play Strauss’s classical piece. Scrolling text appears when the piece finishes playing; if you let this run this course, you see a preview of all twenty screens.

You control Miner Willy as he collects a number of treasures in each scene and make your way to the exit without touching any of the enemies, which include poisonous pansies, mutant telephones, Pac-Men on legs, spiders, slime, and robots. Since Willy has no weapon to defend himself with, he has to jump over them. Most of these enemies, except one or two, do not make an appearance again in the game. Contact with any enemies results in a loss of one of your lives. In true Monty Python fashion, losing all your lives results in Willy being placed on a pedestal so he can be crushed by a big boot that appears from the top of the screen.

Graphic-wise, the outdoor scene above the keyboard on the title screen looks fantastic and it serves as your escape route. There is no ending when you reach this; the game loops you back to the first scene. I like how each screen is composed of various colors so that it doesn’t get boring. The exit to the next scene consists of different designs that look good. The animations are impressive as well. Sound-wise, you play the game to “In the Halls of the Mountain King” which loops as long as you don’t run out of lives and stay in the game. The only effects heard are jumping sounds and the restarting of the screen.

The Bad
I can’t think of anything.

The Bottom Line
I like the simplicity that Manic Miner offers. Just collect each treasure in all twenty screens without coming into contact with any enemies. That's all there is to it. The graphics and animation are spot on, and the renditions of two classical music pieces are a joy to listen to.

Commodore 64 · by Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚­ă‚ą (43092) · 2022

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by S Olafsson, Jo ST, Tim Janssen.